1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a system and method for estimating top contributors of a network. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for estimating top contributing stations producing traffic on a network over a finite period of time.
2. Related Art
A local area network (LAN) is a data communication system with more than one independent device and the ability for any one device to communicate with any other device or point in the system.
One key interest in LANs is the ability to manage and control traffic communication between stations. In order to avoid "traffic jams" or network "pollution" and to increase throughput and response time of a network, it is necessary to identify which stations are contributing the most data to the network. For example, during a "broadcast storm" (a state in which there are a very large number of broadcast frames being sent, and consequently the network is effectively shut down) it is important to identify the top producers of broadcast traffic. Once this information is available, appropriate adjustments may be implemented to correct the condition.
In addition, identifying the top producers of traffic which do not serve any useful purpose or consume a large percentage of a network's resources is critical information that a network manager needs to know in order to design an efficient network system, which operates at a lower cost.
One method of identifying the top contributors to a network involves maintaining a table of entries for each station contributing data to the network. As each station sends data, the source address of the station is recorded in a table. The table is updated each time a station sends data. At the end of a particular time interval, the table is sorted to determine the top contributing entries.
However, this technique is impractical. Often the amount of possible stations is very large and storage space is limited. Frequently, the amount of stations contributing to the network extends beyond the capacity of the maximum number of entries the memory device can store. As a result, most techniques ignore any new stations contributing to a network after the number of entries exceeds the capacity of the memory device. This leads to inaccurate results. Additionally, the large table sizes employed for this technique requires increased time to process and sort such information.